Samantha Stosur's dream season now has another memorable mark besides the US Open title – the veteran defeated Maria Sharapova for the first time in their ten meetings in the long history of seven years.

In their five previous matches, the last one of which dates back to 2006, Sharapova never lost more than four games per set, but today her dominance over Stosur encountered an obstacle and the Australian was victorious in the first match of the White Group at the WTA Championships. Read more »

The 2011 TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships in Istanbul start tomorrow, not affected by the devastating earthquake that killed around 270 people in Turkey. Players and the Tour expressed their condolences, but their job is calling them to focus on the big task ahead.

Since only the most successful eight players of the season are in the competition, it is not entirely reasonable to talk about the toughness of the draw, but we can always speculate: is the world No.1 the favorite, or the most-established players, or the late season bloomers, or someone else? Let’s analyze the two round-robin groups.

RED GROUP: Caroline Wozniacki, Petra Kvitova, Vera Zvonareva, Agnieszka Radwanska

The tournament will start with the clash between Kvitova and Zvonareva. Kvitova is making her debut at the WTA Championships, but at this year’s Wimbledon she showed she doesn’t shy away at grand stages. Also, the Czech is fresh off a WTA title in Linz.

Another first-time qualifier, Agnieszka Radwanska, is also in action on the first day, against world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki. Radwanska is the hottest player this fall, having won 11 of her last 12 matches, including Premier-level titles in Tokyo and Beijing. Zvonareva was runner-up in Tokyo, while Wozniacki had the worst results of the group this fall, losing in the third round of Tokyo and the quarterfinals of Beijing.

To give you a deeper insight into the mutual relationships of the players, here are their head-to-head statistics, with this year's records in brackets. Read more »

Because of rain, the semifinals and final at the HP Open in Osaka had to be played on the same day. The final took place "after suitable rest"of the victorios semifinalists, who were Samantha Stosur and Marion Bartoli. Later in the final, Bartoli defeated Stosur 6-3 6-1 and won the International-level title by losing more than four games only in one match!

The top-seeded Stosur beat Zheng Jie after two hours and 36 minutes, 7-6(5) 3-6 6-3. The second-seeded Bartoli saved both break points she faced and without dropping serve defeated Angelique Kerber 6-1 7-6(5) in one hour and 38 minutes. As you can see, Stosur spent one hour more on the court on Sunday than her final opponent.

Later, Bartoli defeated Stosur 6-3 6-1 without dropping serve. The loss must be a disaapointment for Stosur even more so because she won her first title at the HP Open two years ago.

Bartoli won her seventh career title and second this season, after Eastbourne. The players Frenchwoman beat en route to the trophy: Melinda Czink, Vania King, Ayumi Morita, Angelique Kerber, and finally the reigning US Open champion Stosur. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Since the photos of players when they were kids is one of your favorite sections on Women's Tennis Blog, I decided to include it on the homepage, at least for a while. Actually, it's all the idea of our reader Tony (PennettaFan on Twitter). Under the title "Little tennis stars", below in the left sidebar, you can see young Monica Seles and links to all the other players' childhood photos that have been included on Women's Tennis Blog so far.

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Also, I was inspired to make a poll where you can vote for the cutest childhood photo of a WTA player. This list is of course by no means extensive. Feel free to share some cute photos of WTA players you may have come across, and I can feature them in future articles and polls.

Below are my photo favorites included in the poll:

1) Dinara Safina – I love her face expression here.

2) Sara Errani – Adorable curly blond hair, love the vintage look.

Read more »

After a big battle in the first round, Samantha Stosur scored a straight-set win over Japan's Misaki Doi in the second round and reached the quarterfinals of the HP Open in Osaka, the International tournament where the Australian won her maiden WTA title just two years ago.

Stosur opened the event against Thailand's world No.168 Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (you can call her Nok for short). Leveled at 5-5 in the final set, Stosur survived a six-deuce game and scored a break to win 6-3 3-6 7-5 for only her second victory since her US Open triumph. Luckily, Stosur had an easier job in her following match, beating Misaki Doi 6-2 6-4.

Last year at the tournament Stosur lost to Kimiko Date-Krumm at the quarterfinal stage. Date-Krumm later played the historic final in which she and eventual champion Tamarine Tanasugarn had a combined age of 73. This year, Tanasugarn is through to the quarters so far. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)